


heat wave

by Fluoradine



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Beach Holidays, Beaches, Day At The Beach, F/F, Fluff, Summer, Summer Vacation, Tickle Fights, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-23
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-07-01 10:08:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15771969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluoradine/pseuds/Fluoradine
Summary: It gets hot at the beach, and Mei turns to Aleksandra for help. Luckily, she always knows how to get her girlfriend out of a sticky situation.





	heat wave

**Author's Note:**

> one last hurrah for summer everyone! sorry this was an empty month - enjoy the zaryamei anyway!

It was hot. Much too hot for Mei-Ling Zhou, the Antarctic climatologist from a city with freezing winters, who was painfully unprepared for summer in Spanish coast. Her girlfriend, Aleksandra, had thought it would be nice to spend their vacation weeks in Ibiza, where they could get some time to themselves on the beach, but hadn’t accounted for the plus-40 degree temperatures they’d run sunhat-first into. 

Strange that someone like her could be so accomplished, handsome, and loveable, and still so dumb sometimes. 

They must be having a heat wave, Mei thought as she shielded her eyes from the sun. Aleksandra, the snowbird herself, was beside her underneath their beach umbrella, watching other tourists chase their kids around with unopened bottles of sunscreen. They had a lovely view of the ocean from here - if Mei could look for a second without squinting, she could probably make out Morocco in the distance. 

“Are you sure you’re not going to melt, _mishka?_ You look like a tomato.” Alex asked her eventually, looking a little concerned for the sweaty mass lying beside her in the nearby sand. 

“It’s just so warm,” Mei groaned, fanning herself with a sweaty hand. “I’m too used to the cold for this.”

“Ah, but it’s good to get out in the sun when you can,” Aleksandra said. “You haven’t seen an inch of blue sky since you started that Iceland lab project. It’s not natural to stay inside all of the time - I’d prefer you spend time out here, and with me.”

It was true - Mei had been busy, cooped up doing work with her fellow scientists and spending almost all of June and July in the Gibraltar Watchpoint’s basement. But Aleksandra hadn’t been exact definition of outdoorsy, either - stealing Mei from work to marathon old action movies and cuddle together for hours wasn’t really active, nor productive, either.

But Mei couldn’t tease her for it - had Aleksandra not been there to take her up to bed after long work nights or give her a bear hug and kiss before she went back to the labs, she might’ve gone insane. Alex was her pillow to fall back onto, and always the shining highlight of her day. And she couldn’t hate her for anything, much less a sweltering beach vacation she’d made with the best intentions in mind. 

“Next time, we should go somewhere cold,” Mei said, grimacing as she moved around on the scorching sand. “I heard Switzerland has some nice hiking trails in the mountains. That counts as being outside, right?”

“We’ll go on our next vacation, I promise.” Alex said, fanning Mei with her own hand. “You know, you really do remind me of a bear sometimes. Big, fuzzy, filled with food….” She chuckled, brushing a lock of hair off Mei’s sweaty forehead.

“If I were a bear, I would have to be a polar bear.” she said, smiling back at her pink-faced girlfriend. No one else could possibly cheer her up by saying she looked like a bear. That was a talent only Aleksandra and her Russian charm had, and a compliment only Mei wanted to hear.

“You certainly look like one in all those layers.” Alex said, pointing at Mei’s elaborate beachwear - a full-piece swimsuit with a heavy coverup, sunhat and a couple of rope bracelets. As she looked at it, Alex paused, and scrunched up a brow. “Actually, that might be why you’re so warm. I think you’ve overdressed, _mishka._ ”

Mei looked down at her own clothes. “Oh.” So she had. Style and comfort still didn’t go together, it seemed. Too much care for fashion was going to turn her into a puddle - a cute puddle yes, but melted all the same.

“I think it’s this that’s doing it for you,” Alex tugged at the fringe of Mei’s coverup. “It must be cooking you like a turkey.”

“And you’re only telling me that now?” Mei rolled up a sleeve and instantly felt a little cooler. This must be what was keeping her hot - it all had to go off, there was no other way to fix her problem.

“Who would I have been to tell you to change the moment I saw your outfit? That would have been rude.” 

“You know I wouldn’t have minded if it helped me out.” Mei said, smirking and reaching down to take the coverup off. But Aleksandra beat her to it - her hands suddenly rushed down Mei’s back, reaching for the spot where the fabric hung loose on her hips, and the same place where her own hand was traveling to.

Their fingertips met just above their destination. Although they’d touched hands many, many times before, touching Aleksandra so timidly still felt as electric as it did the very first time. It made Mei giggle like she had a crush on her all over again. “How kind of you, miss Zaryanova.”

“Nothing but the best for my polar bear.” Alex laced their fingers together, and as Mei squeezed them back she felt the coverup being lifted off her back. She let go of Alex’s hand to allow the rest of it to come off like a veil. “There - do you feel any better?”

She did - as soon as the coverup was gone, Mei felt her skin cool and start to breathe again. “You certainly look wonderful without it.” Alex said to her, and she couldn’t help but smile. What she’d done to end up with this suave, silly woman, she had no idea, but she knew there was nothing anyone could do to take her away from her.

Now that she was cooling down, Mei could see how and why Aleksandra was enjoying herself so much. It felt good to chill in the ocean breeze, lie down underneath the sun and watch the waves roll into shore without worrying about overheating or sticking to the sand. Both her and Alex fell into their own silent relaxation, letting the sounds of gulls and nearby kids make the beach atmosphere complete.

After about twenty minutes of lying under the sun, Mei was back in her comfort zone. She was so comfortable, in fact, that she closed her eyes, taking off her hat and sunglasses, and immediately feeling the warmth of summer set in on her skin. 

But a few moments after she did, something started burning. And it wasn’t an early bonfire. No, there couldn’t be one this close to the water, and not so close to Mei that it hurt her arm…

Her eyes snapped back open to see a patch of her shoulder starting to turn pink. And it was dangerous shade of blush, baby pink. She realized what was about to go wrong immediately, and gasped. 

“What’s wrong?” Aleksandra tipped down her sunglasses as Mei shrunk back under the umbrella like a snail into its safe shell.

“Did you bring any extra sunscreen?” she asked her, making sure every inch of her was back in the shade before taking a deep breath. 

“Hm?”

“I didn’t put sunscreen on before we left,” Mei said. “and I’m going to burn without it now.” She pressed two fingers to the pink patch of shoulder, and breathed a sigh of relief when they left no skin-toned imprint. “Please say you brought an extra bottle?”

“Oh, yes.” Alex nodded, and sat up with a groan. “Why didn’t you put it on like I said you should?”

“I didn’t think I would have to take off my layers. The coverup was supposed to cover everything, really…”

Alex went to sigh, but stopped, and smirked instead. “Perhaps you need to re-learn how to live in hot weather conditions, Mei. All that time in Antarctica must have thrown you off your natural temperature.” 

She reached for the green backpack they’d filled with beach supplies - everything from aloe vera to water shoes was inside, along with a couple of Alex’s ‘light reading’ Russian novels. And, luckily, among it all was an extra bottle of sunscreen they’d grabbed. “Do you need help putting it on?” Alex asked as she took it out and opened it. 

“Oh, no, I’m sure I’ll be fine.” Mei started, but couldn’t take the bottle before Alex started squeezing a dollop into her hand.

“Please. I insist.” Alex said, reaching for Mei’s arm. She touched her fingers and lightly tugged forward, pulling Mei close enough to slap the sunscreen down on her forearm. The second it touched her skin, Mei screeched - the cream was freezing, cold enough to have just been taken out of the freezer or the Antarctic ocean.

“It’s only sunscreen, _mishka._ Don’t panic.” Alex said, starting to rub the sunscreen in gently. Her other hand still held Mei’s fingers together: not hard enough to keep her in place, but just loose enough for Mei to tug away if she wanted to. “We don’t want you to get burned, right? Protection is important, you know…”

Mei was about to protest, and push her girlfriend away with a humph, but quickly realized the game she was supposed to be playing. Alex had stopped rubbing the sunscreen in, turning her attention to Mei now. Her eyes were wide with a question, and her brows were raised into an arch that was waiting for only one thing. 

Mei got the hint. Her scrunched-up face of surprise quickly relaxed into a playful smirk. “Of course. Could you help me reach my shoulders, dear?”

Alex returned the expression. “Yes, I can. Can you slide closer, please?”

Mei obliged, scooting further forward in the sand. The bottle opened again for Alex to squeeze more into her hands, rubbing them together to get a good amount spread around. “How much do you think you’ll need?”

“Oh, only as much as you think I can manage.” Mei said. She brushed her hair off of her collarbone, and Aleksandra lifted her hands to meet the same spot. The sunscreen was still chilled, but felt warmer now as Alex started massaging it in. Her hands were tough - calloused and roughened up from years of fighting and competing - but Mei felt none of that violent history when they touched her body. 

Every movement was gentle, as if Alex might break a bone by pushing too hard. She massaged in circular motions, pressing both her fingertips and palms into the soft area around Mei’s collar. She scooted closer still, and felt Alex’s touch immediately lighten up. “You don’t need to be so delicate, you know - I can handle a little rough.”

Alex raised her brows. “I know you can. Have patience, little bear.”

She continued to massage, even after there wasn’t much sunscreen left to sink in. Mei felt goosebumps start to rise, and she sat up taller, guiding Alex’s hands lower down her chest. Her fingertips kept rubbing without pause, and slid further down on their own accord. Mei’s teeth were reaching for the inside of her lip before Alex suddenly stopped, right at the edge of her swimsuit.

“I don’t think the sun is going to be bothering you that much down there.” she said, lifting her hands off.

Mei frowned. But she knew what Alex was up to - even if she wasn’t entirely sure how much they could do right here, on a busy beach in the middle of the day. “Could you turn around, please?” Alex asked, and Mei obliged once again. 

She heard the bottle of sunscreen open from behind and squirt out, as well as the squelch of Alex rubbing her hands together. It was fully warm this time when it touched her skin, and she let out a sigh as she felt Alex’s fingertips dipping between her shoulder blades, the sensation giving her tingles all the way down her spine. 

But the soft, massaging touch was gone this time around. Instead, Alex was tapping her fingertips on Mei’s upper back, gently poking at the cushioned spots of skin. “You need some on your shoulders, right?”

Mei nodded, getting a little confused. This wasn’t the direction she’d assumed they were heading in. The poking fingers moved to her shoulder, wriggling around a little on their spot. Mei shivered. “That tickles.”

Alex didn’t say anything. She kept going, wiggling her fingers around like spiders walking across Mei’s shoulder blades. As they moved further up, Mei started to giggle. It was tickling her so softly she could just recognize the sensation, and was starting to get a little nervous. “What are you doing back there?”

“Helping you put on sunscreen. You need some here, remember?” 

And with that, Alex’s fingers pushed down, and started tickling Mei. She shrieked, and her shoulders buckled as Alex laughed. It felt like a million jolts of electricity had been shot right through her body at once, and Mei waved her arms around like a flapping chicken as she tried to squirm away.

But Alex caught her, one arm wrapping around her chest, and held Mei close as she kept tickling. Mei was laughing and screeching so hard she couldn’t even figure out what was going on, and her head fell back into Alex’s chest as her hands moved up to her neck. “Ah, now this is the perfect way to protect yourself from the sun!” she announced as Mei yelled, terrified but happy, knowing she was safe at the mercy of Alex’s tickles.

“You need some on your underarms, too, right?” Her hands flew down below her shoulders, and Mei squealed. She fell backwards, taking Aleksandra down to the sand where the tickling didn’t stop, only got more intense. Every single one of her limbs tried to protest - she kicked and waved, tossed, turned, and tried to spin in Alex’s arms - but the tickling was relentless, and soon she gave up, allowing the guffaws and chokes of laughter to consume her. 

People walking by were starting to notice what was going on. Through the tears starting to form in her ducts, Mei could see sundress-clad women staring, shaking their heads and whispering to themselves They obviously weren’t impressed - what Mei and Alex was doing was unprofessional, loud and brash, and didn’t fit into the calm beach atmosphere at all.

Mei couldn’t care less. She didn’t care that her and Aleksandra were making fools of themselves - they were having fun, enjoying each other and loving being together, making a moment to remember. Mei had spent too long worrying about how others perceived her - how serious her colleagues thought she was, how bold she was with her relationship, even how forgetful she could be sometimes.

She couldn’t waste any more time worrying about any of that. There was so little time for happiness at work in Overwatch that every moment of it had to be captured and cherished. She wasn’t here to whine, complain, or worry about what others thought of her and her girlfriend. She was here to be with Aleksandra, and enjoy every minute they spent in tears, smiles, and laughter together.

Eventually, the tickling stopped, and Mei went limp in Alex’s arms, catching her breath through the last few trickles of laughter. She could see a glimmer of the sun in her eyes, and felt Alex’s hands slide out from underneath her back. Everything was blurry, and she was a little dizzy, but she knew underneath it all, she felt amazing. 

And before she could sigh, Alex booped her nose with the last dollop of sunscreen. “Can’t miss a spot.” she said, grinning down to Mei like a cruel, pink-haired and happy angel. 

Mei turned to her, covered with sunscreen from head to toe. Aleksandra knew how to turn her mood around like no other - she was ridiculous, loud, physical, childish and almost crazy, but it all made her easier to love.

Without wasting a second, she wrapped her creamy arms around Alex’s shoulders, and pulled her down into a kiss. Their lips met sweetly, fitting right in with each other like they had time and time again. It was a kiss unique from so many others, lit by the summer sun and shining waves, one Mei wouldn’t forget for a very long time. 

“There - now you won’t get burnt anywhere.” Aleksandra smiled as they broke apart. She looked so proud of her work, and Mei tried to pull her back in for another kiss, but was denied. “Uh-uh. You taste like sunscreen, _mishka._ ” Alex said, holding her hand up.

“What? That can’t be possible,” she said. “You didn’t put any on your lips, did you?

“None that you didn’t help put there.” Alex said, running a hand down Mei’s shoulder. She chuckled, and Mei reached up for another kiss nevertheless. Alex didn’t protest, and they shared a zinc-y, warm and sticky kiss to last them the rest of their day at the beach. 

“Go wash off, Mei,” Alex said once Mei was finished peppering her cheek with extra kisses. “I’ll meet you in the water.”

Mei didn’t need to be told twice. She got up from the sand, walking past nosey tourists and little kids still burning in the sun, and towards the shining shore. The sunlight turned the tops of the waves into sparkles, and Mei waded in carefully, knowing Aleksandra would join her in this paradise soon enough. The rest of this day was going to be perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> please leave a kudo/comment if you liked! tumblr is @ultcharge (formerly @ggdragons) if you want to talk!


End file.
